Roommates
by Yumi Watase
Summary: This is the revised version of my original "Roommates" story. Kagome's mom is renovating their house and she suddenly finds herself without a place to stay. Her two best friends, Naraku and Sesshomaru, offer up their spare bedroom to her. But with her conflicting emotions about Naraku and a brooding Sesshomaru, what's a poor girl to do?


**Hello duckies! Okay, so here's my revised version of Roommates. It's very different from the first version, with lots more drama and more character development. Plus you actually get a look at some of what they're thinking.**

**I want to say a few things first:**

**1. There IS a sex scene, but it's vague. I'm not into writing hot and heavy sex scenes, but the last version was apparently confusing, so there IS a lemon, but it's not very long and it's rather vague with terminology.**

**2. This is raw and fresh, not edited, so I apologize for any typos. If you want to shoot me a message about something I might have missed here or there, please feel free so I can edit it. :)**

**3. I purposely left the first version of this up because the pieces are so different that I wanted some input. I'll definitely keep this one up, but I wanted to wait to take down the other one. I know it's poorly written, the first one, but it's much more funny than this one. This one has some humor, but it's mostly drama.**

**Okay, now that I've said all of that, please feel free to enjoy the story. Feedback is welcome!**

* * *

Kagome casually glanced over at the object of her affections, trying to play it off as if she just happened to be looking in that general direction. In fact, to emphasize that she was covertly looking at him, she moved her eyes up to the clock on the wall, before turning back to look at the teacher.

The object of her affections leaned over when the teacher wasn't looking, "This is really boring," he chuckled and she grinned back at him. He was so very handsome.

"I agree, this sucks."

"Why are you whispering?" a third voice joined the conversation from behind her and she stiffened a bit in surprise, before sighing in exasperation and leaning back in her seat.

The two guys surrounding her were her childhood best friends, Naraku Onigumo and Sesshomaru Taisho. The three of them had been playmates growing up and had always gone to the same schools; elementary school, middle school, secondary school, and finally, even college.

Since they were all only in their second year of college, they were still taking general education classes, so they had planned them together to have the maximum amount of classes together; after all, what fun is school if you can't have some fun in class, right?

Of course, it suited Kagome perfectly since she had been crushing on Naraku for a long time now. If she could recall correctly, it probably started when she was in middle school. He had been the first of the three of them to hit puberty, and when he had, he'd gotten especially handsome in her eyes. His glossy black hair was ridiculously soft, and his red eyes at first seemed frightening, but once you got used to them, they were piercing. He tended to be a little bit on the pale side when it came to skin tone, but not nearly as pale as her other best guy friend, Sesshomaru.

Sesshomaru, though one of her best friends, also happened to, more often than not, be the bane of her existence. He had long, silvery-white hair that was the trademark of his particular clan of demons. Along with his hair, he had honey-colored golden eyes that were often cold and skeptic. It was quite rare to see him crack a smile, even amongst the three of them. Usually, he settled for a smirk, but she could only recall seeing a genuine smile on his lips three times in her life.

As was typical of an Inu demon, he had exceedingly pale skin, and maroon stripes on his hands and wrists, going up his arm, but stopping short, so it didn't reach all the way up. He had two maroon stripes on either side of his face, showing the markings of his clan.

Both Naraku and Sesshomaru were the most attractive males, human or demon, that she had ever laid eyes on, and she'd had plenty of opportunity to ogle them both growing up. She had often been the envy of every girl in any school she attended, so she'd had to start taking martial arts and self-defense classes to keep out of too many fights from jealous fangirls.

Kagome shuddered at the memory of being attacked by fangirls – no wonder actors and famous people always wore disguises, with people like that in the world, she would have as well.

Despite loving both of them dearly as practically family, Naraku had always been the kinder of the two of them, which had naturally drawn her to him when it came to her crush, than to Sesshomaru. He enjoyed being cruel and downright mean more so than Naraku, though they both had a wicked streak a mile wide.

She wasn't exactly a saint herself, but compared to those two, she might as well be. Her head jerked back suddenly and she squeaked indignantly, earning a few glances in her direction. "What the hell?" she hissed, turning to face the side and glare at Sesshomaru, who just smirked.

"You just looked way too peaceful, thought I'd remind you that we're in class and not here to daydream."

"Shut up," she turned back to face the teacher.

"Oh but Kagome, I'm so _bored_," he emphasized, pulling her hair in a childish fashion…again.

"Well that's not my problem, now is it?"

"Ms. Higurashi, do you have something to share with the class?" the teacher suddenly called on her.

"No, sorry," she apologized and felt her blood boil when she heard Sesshomaru's snigger behind her. She was about to turn around and give him a piece of her mind when Naraku put a hand on her arm and shook his head.

She flushed in embarrassment and took a few breaths to cool her temper down. No use getting angry in class, she'd only get kicked out if she did anything.

Behind her, Sesshomaru glowered at the scene in front of him.

When class finally got out, Kagome was eternally grateful. "Can you drop me off by the house? I need to help mom finish packing and moving out our stuff so we can get the renovations on the house started."

"Why are you doing this again? It's a perfectly nice house," Naraku inquired.

"Carl," was the only reply she gave.

"Isn't that your mom's new fiancé?" Sesshomaru fell into step beside the other two. Kagome walked in between them as they made their way to Naraku's car in the student parking lot.

"Yeah. He decided that the house needed to be renovated, so my mom just up and agreed like it wasn't a big deal. Honestly, where does the guy get off saying that crap?"

Kagome was _not_ fond of her mother's recently turned fiancé. He wasn't mean or anything, he was just…pushy and a little too possessive over her mother, in her opinion anyway. It wasn't that she didn't understand that her mother deserved to find someone after so many years of being with only Kagome, but still, she could have done better than _Carl_.

When they got to the house, Kagome got out and headed to the front door. She was going to pull it open, when it was thrown open and several large men carrying furniture and other household items walked past her. She scrunched her eyes in confusion, what was going on?

"Mom?" she walked in the house, seeing her mom directing a few other buff men to different items in the house.

"Kagome? Oh, I'm so glad you're here. Listen, I know that Carl said that there would be enough room for all of us at the temporary house we're renting while renovations on the house are being made, but it turns out that his mom is sick and needs a place to stay for right now."

"…so what are you trying to tell me?"

"Is there anywhere you could stay for the next few months while they get the house renovated?"

"_What?!_" she shouted, finally losing it. "You're making _me_ find a new place?! What the hell, I'm your daughter and this is my home as much as anyone's!"

"Sweetie, I'm really sorry, but there's just not enough room."

"Where the hell am I supposed to find a new effing place to live for a few months?!"

"Kagome," Carl walked up, having heard the shouting, "you really need to just calm down and—"

"Don't you dare tell me to calm down you jerk. You can't just walk in our lives and mmpphfft—"

A hand had clamped over her mouth and she immediately knew who it was. "Sorry about Kagome Mrs. Higurashi, she's had a long, arduous day at school and she's really in a non-negotiable mood. But don't worry, she can come and stay with Naraku and I," Sesshomaru didn't let go of her while he explained this like they were discussing the weather.

"Really?"

Kagome tried to bite his hand, but he'd learned that trick a long time ago, and so she got nowhere while he practically suffocated her and held her close to his body. She would have been childish enough to lick his hand, but she knew that if she did that it would be useless.

"Really. We have an extra room and have been thinking about getting another roommate. It'll be fine, she'll be safe with us."

"Thank you Sesshomaru. You really are such a wonderful young man, Kagome is lucky to have you in her life," Carl smiled at the demon and Kagome glared daggers at her almost father-in-law kissing up to someone like Sesshomaru.

"Naturally. Well, we'll just be leaving now."

"What about her luggage?"

"While we were talking, Naraku was packing an overnight bag for her. When she's calmed down a bit, we can come back and get the rest of the items."

"Alright, see you soon," Kagome's mother smiled and waved as Sesshomaru easily dragged Kagome out of the house and practically dumped her in the car.

"You asshole, how dare you—"

"Look, I get that you're ticked off, and you have every right to be, but you need to calm down and think before you speak."

"He's right," Naraku hopped in the driver's seat and started the car. "Not that I don't agree, I think this is absolute bullshit on Carl's part to try to get you out of the house, but if you stress your mom out more than she already is, it'll be bad for her health."

"I hate the both of you," she grumbled as she crossed her arms over her chest and petulantly looked out the window, refusing to speak to either of them for the rest of the trip to their apartment.

They hadn't always lived together, Naraku and Sesshomaru. It was a relatively new development actually. It had only been the past six months that they both moved out of their own places and into a three room apartment. Originally they'd had a third roommate, but things didn't work out with that demon, and they kicked him out. Since then, the third room had been empty.

Kagome often went over to their apartment to hang out, do homework, play games, etc. It was her home away from home…and now it would just be her temporary home.

She stormed into the apartment and into the spare room, slamming the door behind her.

Naraku and Sesshomaru looked at each other and silently agreed to give her time to cool down. Well, it was more like Naraku warning Sesshomaru silently to leave her alone until she'd calmed down, because all he wanted to do was to pick on her until he'd had his fun.

Sesshomaru just looked away, annoyed that his fun had been taken away.

* * *

Kagome sighed as she flopped onto her desk, arms extended, forehead leaning on the smooth surface. The whole debacle had been yesterday, and after she had cooled down, she had called her mother and Carl and apologized for her behavior, though it was the last thing she had wanted to do. Her temper was her worse quality and she knew it.

Today they were going to pick up the rest of her things from the house after classes. Luckily Carl would be at work, and it would only be her mother overseeing the process of moving things out of the house.

"Everything will be fine Kagome, you'll see," Naraku reassured and she gave him a big, grateful smile. He smiled dazzlingly back and her heart melted – he truly was the best friend and she hoped, if she ever got the courage, the best boyfriend.

The teacher dismissed them and they all stood up. As she was going to follow Naraku out, a hand grabbed her arm and yanked her back, "You might as well give up cause he'll never see you as a girlfriend," Sesshomaru harshly whispered in her ear.

She pulled her arm out of his grip as she flushed, glaring at him, "What do you know?"

"More than you. Trust me, you don't stand a chance," he smirked haughtily.

"You're an asshole, you know that?"

He merely smirked and walked past her. She felt tears prickling at her eyes but she shook them away angrily. What did Sesshomaru know of her feelings? Did he really realize how much she liked Naraku? How long had he known? Was she just that obvious?

Hanging her head, she walked out of the classroom and had enough time to compose herself before she saw Naraku and Sesshomaru again. She refused to look at Sesshomaru unless protocol demanded it, and before she knew it, she had boxes and luggage in her new, temporary room, ready to unpack.

"Would you like some help?" Naraku offered.

"I'll be fine I think, I just need some time—"

"Nonsense, I'll help. Naraku, you can go and get some dinner cooked up," Sesshomaru stepped forward, ushering her back into her room and shutting the door in Naraku's face.

"What the hell?"

"What's wrong? Can't a friend help out another friend?" he asked, feigning innocence.

"Not with you, no. What are you trying to pull?"

He ignored her and moved to her luggage. She took several deep breaths and closed her eyes, '_I need to think calm thoughts, I need to think calm thoughts. Clear your mind Kagome, think of nothing but calm and—'_ "Is this your underwear?!" '_Screw it, he's dead.'_

"Give me those!" she rushed over to where he was standing, holding a pair of her "sexy" underwear. She had different pairs of underwear. She had her practical types, black and white. And then, she had her comfortable and cute types, which were polka dotted or had fun colors and designs, and then she had her sexy underwear: silk, lace, and though no thongs, as close as you could get to them. It was just her luck that Sesshomaru grabbed a white lacy pair and was holding it up in his hand.

"I didn't even know you owned a pair like this. What are you saving these for? Surely you're not saving them for Naraku, are you?"

"What the hell do you know about anything? Now give me my underwear you jackass!"

"Temper, temper," he chuckled, "I'm only trying to help you. Naraku will never see you as anything but a friend or maybe a sister, so you should just forget him and focus on someone else."

"Why are you saying that? I know you like being cruel but don't you get it?" she shouted and felt tears in her eyes again. "Just shut up. What do you know about anyone's feelings? All you feel is contempt and cold."

His eyes flashed and before she knew it, he had her pinned to the wall, "Don't be so quick to judge others Kagome. What you don't know can harm you," he muttered vehemently.

It was an intense stare down for a full minute while each of their angry auras clashed. However, the whole scene changed when Sesshomaru's eyes suddenly looked down at her lips and she felt the urge to lick them, as they were suddenly quite dry.

Her tongue flicked out to wet her lips, but she was staring at Sesshomaru, who seemed riveted by the action. What on earth was—

"Dinner's ready," Naraku called through the door.

Sesshomaru looked away and the moment was lost. Kagome pushed him away and bolted out the door and into the living room. Naraku looked up in surprise at her harsh breathing, "Are you alright?"

"Fine," she grabbed a plate of spaghetti and a piece of bread and sat down at the table to eat. Sesshomaru came out soon afterward, also looking a little more flush than Naraku was used to seeing him.

"Are _you_ alright?" he inquired after his best friend and roommate.

"Hn," was Sesshomaru's only reply as he grabbed food and sat in the living room.

Naraku was puzzled as to their sudden change in attitudes. It wasn't unusual for Kagome and Sesshomaru to be at odds, since they both tended to be short-tempered, quick to judge, and were more often than not on the opposite ends of everything. But lately Sesshomaru had been more pushy than usual and Naraku didn't understand why.

He supposed he should ask and be a good friend, but the question was, which one should he ask? If he asked Sesshomaru, he might get a response, but it was highly unlikely, as Sesshomaru tended to keep his problems to himself. If he asked Kagome, she would probably give a roundabout answer and it would be like pulling teeth to get a straight answer out of her.

In the end, he decided that he was just going to let them work it out. He took out his phone and texted his girlfriend.

N – "Hey, it's really tense here. Can I come over?"

K – "No problem. Come on over whenever."

"Hey guys, I've gotta get a rain check for dinner. See you later," he grabbed his keys, wallet, and left the two brooding inhabitants.

'_No, don't leave me with the bastard!'_ Kagome mentally begged.

'_What is going on with me? Why am I so freakin' jealous of her feelings for Naraku?'_ Sesshomaru questioned, not for the first time since he'd come to realize that he was insanely jealous of anything to do with Kagome.

He had known about her little crush on Naraku for a while now, but had never thought much of it until recent years when he noticed she was getting more bold with her affections for the dark haired spider demon and it was majorly ticking him off to see her flirting around him and mooning after him.

At first he had thought it was because they were his best friends and it was weird, but after a while he realized it went deeper than that. When Naraku had started dating Kagura eight months ago, he'd been relieved – insanely, unexplainably relieved to realize that Naraku only cared for Kagome as a friend or sister and nothing more. When he came to realize that _that_ was the reason for his relief, he began questioning his own motives and feelings.

He was still slightly in denial, but after the little incident earlier, he could hardly overlook how he felt: he had fallen for Kagome.

* * *

Kagome put the rest of the leftovers in Tupperware and finished cleaning up the kitchen. Both Naraku and Sesshomaru were out of the apartment today – Sesshomaru because of going to work with his father and learning how to run the family business, and Naraku because…well…she wasn't really sure why.

Originally, though she had protested, she had thought it would be the perfect opportunity to finally get close to Naraku enough that she could admit her feelings for him, but he was making that impossible, being gone all the time. The only times she ever really saw him these days was at school and whenever he spent any small amount of time at the apartment.

And of course, since that second day with Sesshomaru, he too had been conveniently busier than before. "This sucks," she whined. She couldn't get closer to her crush and she couldn't spend time with her other best friend. "Maybe it's time I get some new best friends," she muttered.

The only problem with getting male friends was that, despite everything, both Naraku and Sesshomaru were extremely protective of her and any guy that they thought was a threat to their dominance over her, was a threat…yeah, that was every single male, human or demon alike, weak or strong, it didn't matter. And, the problem with female friends was that, at some point, they just used her to get close to Naraku and Sesshomaru, even older women who were married. So in a way, she was both blessed and cursed to have them as her best friends.

So she was back to square one. The doorbell rang and she looked at it like it was an alien for a moment until there was a knock. Confused and insanely curious, she answered the door, "Hello?"

"Are you Kagome?"

She was instantly on guard, "Maybe, why?"

"Hi, my name is Jakotsu, I'm a friend of Sesshomaru's," the man/woman said.

"…okay?"

"I just thought I should like to meet you and I knew I'd never have a better opportunity than when both of them were out."

"You know that sounds really creepy, right?"

"Does it? Huh," he/she seemed to be contemplating for a moment, before shrugging. "Whatever, you need to come with me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm bored and I like making new friends."

She was going to tell him to go away, but he grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the door. After turning around and _locking the door _with his seemingly own key, he turned back to her with a grin and started walking toward what appeared to be his car. She was certain now that he was a male, though she highly suspected that he was gay.

"Coming?" he called from the car.

Sighing, she decided she might as well just go with him. It was against her better nature, but he _did_ have a key to the place, and she didn't, so she was officially locked out.

Getting in the passenger seat, she buckled up and looked at Jakotsu expectantly, "Well, what now?"

"Now, we have fun."

* * *

Sesshomaru unlocked the door and walked into the apartment. The smell of food greeted his sensitive nose, and he realized that Kagome had cooked. Speaking of Kagome…why was the door locked? She didn't have a key to the apartment yet. Had she locked it and left? Maybe she had been locked out and she couldn't get a hold of either him or Naraku?

There was no note, so he called her cell phone, which she did not pick up. Leaving a voice mail message, he grabbed the leftovers in the refrigerator and ate a silent, lonely dinner. It wasn't unusual, rooming with Naraku, to eat on his own; however, with Kagome living there now, he wasn't used to it being so quiet. She had a tendency of being noisy, even if it wasn't loud. She always had music playing, or she was laughing at a movie, or reading out loud for fun because she was bored; there was always _some_ noise, which was why it was a little creepy now that it was so _silent_.

* * *

Kagome couldn't remember the last time she had gone shopping and _had fun_ while doing it. Jakotsu was hilarious! He was shameless and would flirt with any male that he found remotely attractive, he was highly opinionated, and very picky, but it was fun. It was like being with a female, but even better.

She'd never had any gay friends before, but she was thinking that, with her situation with Naraku and Sesshomaru, maybe gay best friends were the way to go. After all, she knew that both Naraku and Sesshomaru were straight (probably) and even if Jakotsu talked about how attractive or sexy they were, he could talk to them himself and he wouldn't have to go through her or anything silly like that.

She had several bags of new clothes that were quite _stylish_, which she wouldn't normally worry about. Usually she didn't waste time shopping because when one went with themselves, it was extremely boring to try on outfit after outfit to find the cutest, most flattering one. 90% of her closet consisted of simple, plain shirts, practical skirts and shoes, and everything else _practical._ If her wardrobe was so ordinary, you may ask, then why did she have lacy underwear? Well, those were all gifts from her mother, who had become more comfortable with her sexuality in the past few years, especially recently with Carl. All those awkward conversations that mothers sometimes avoid having with their daughters…yeah, Kagome had recently had to go through them with her own mother…_in detail_.

Naturally while she was explaining all the things that went with sex, Kagome was trying not to gag because she just knew her mother was thinking of sex with Carl and that was enough to make anyone puke.

Getting off subject – anywho, Kagome was currently sitting in a café with Jakotsu in the shopping district. Her shopping bags were in his trunk and she was just…relaxing.

"You look like you're having fun," he grinned.

"You have no idea. I can't remember the last time I actually had fun like this. I mean, it's so hard being friends with Naraku and Sesshomaru, and the last thing they want to do is go shopping. And just…I can't even tell you how much this has helped me."

"Trust me, I understand. I figured that was why we were perfectly matched as friends," he chuckled. "I suppose that we should be getting back, since Sesshomaru has tried to call you about five times by now," he pulled out her phone with a smirk.

"No wonder it was so silent, I didn't even realize you'd swiped it," she laughed. She just couldn't be angry at Jakotsu after such a fun afternoon.

She looked at the five missed calls and two voice mail messages. Clicking on them, she listened to the first.

_"Hey, it's Sesshomaru, call me back."_

She rolled her eyes, it was so him to be simple and to the point. When she clicked on the second message however, she had to bite her lip to not laugh too hard.

"_Where the hell are you? I already called you four times before this. If you do not pick up I promise you'll regret it. Pick up the damn phone."_

"Sounds mad," Jakotsu quirked an eyebrow in a very Sesshomaru-ish way.

"Oh yeah, he is. I'm going to call him," she dialed his number and waited. It only rang twice before he picked up.

"Where the hell are you, who are you with, and why didn't you leave a note?"

"Chill out Sesshomaru, I'm fine. I've been shopping with a friend."

"A friend? Who?"

"Just a friend."

"So help me Kagome—"

"On my way home now, see you soon," she hung up.

Jakotsu looked at her in surprise, "I'm already going to get chewed out when I get back, why would I want to go through it twice?"

Laughing at that response, they stood up and headed for his car.

* * *

Sesshomaru was standing outside of the apartment, leaning on the door, arms crossed over his chest, his face showing an extremely annoyed expression. It seemed to darken whenever he saw Jakotsu, "What do you think you are doing here?"

"I thought that I'd come and make a new friend, after all, anyone who's friends with you needs to be able to get away once in a while."

"And you, you just went off with this guy?"

"I got locked out," she shrugged as she grabbed her shopping bags, "you haven't given me a key and I've already been here a week," she said pointedly.

"That's not the point and you know it."

"Save it Sesshomaru, I'm really not in the mood to hear it," she walked past him and opened the front door, before going to her own room.

Jakotsu leaned against his car and smirked, "You're never going to win her heart if you keep being a jerk to her."

"I'll ask you to kindly keep your opinions to yourself you homo."

"Only for you Sesshomaru," he made a kissy face.

Sesshomaru glared as Jakotsu laughed. He walked into the apartment and shut and locked the front door. Once he heard the car drive away, he went to Kagome's room and watched as she took things out of bags and started laying them out on the bed to be hung up.

"I really don't want to hear it Sesshomaru," she said suddenly.

"Do you have any idea how fucking worried I was about you?" he growled angrily, walking into the room and shutting _that_ door as well.

"I didn't think it would be a problem, my going out with friends."

"But you don't have any friends besides Naraku and I," he shot back.

"_Exactly!_" she shouted, turning to him, eyes on fire, "Why do you think I went with him?! You were gone, Naraku was God-knows-where, and I didn't have anyone to call or talk to or hang out with. Jakotsu showed up and offered me to have a nice, relaxing afternoon with someone who's not going to pick on me to his heart's content like you, and not going to ignore me like Naraku has taken to doing lately!"

"God! I'm so sick of being around you guys! All you ever do is pick on me incessantly and I just feel like committing murder! And Naraku, for being the nice guy he always has been, has been practically avoiding me since I moved in! I can't make friends because you two scare away any guys I could be friends with, and because every female I meet tries to use me to get into your pants! So excuse me for wanting something remotely _normal_ in my life for once!" she screamed.

"Jakotsu is hardly normal," Sesshomaru bit back, though they both knew it was a rather pathetic comeback, especially for him.

"Yeah well if a gay guy is the only normal part of my life I'm going to grab it, okay?" she took several deep breaths, trying to calm down, but it wasn't working very well. Actually, it usually didn't really work, she just tried to convince herself that it _was_ working.

Sesshomaru was at wit's end. First, he had been worried sick for her, and now she was lecturing and yelling at him? And the worst part was that he was seriously getting turned on by her fiery attitude. '_Screw it'_ he finally gave in.

Before she knew what was happening, Kagome was being pressed against the nearest wall and Sesshomaru had captured her lips. Her eyes widened and she gasped, giving him the opportunity to invade her mouth with his tongue. To both of their surprises she began eagerly reciprocating the kiss.

Time was lost as they stood there making out. The kiss was anything but sweet: it was angry, fiery, passionate, messy, and conveyed his pent up feelings and her suddenly sparked feelings.

When breathing through their noses wasn't enough, Sesshomaru pulled away, pressing his forehead to hers as they each took in gulp-fuls of air, gazes clashing. "What…the…hell?" she asked through breaths once she had enough breath to even say anything.

Instead of answering with words, he pressed his lips to hers more softly this time. It was everything that the first kiss wasn't: it was gentle, exploring, and sweet. "You taste amazing," he muttered quietly against her lips.

"Sesshomaru, what…?" she wasn't even sure what she was asking.

"I can't explain it, it's stupid but…you won't leave my frickin' mind and I'm sick of you mooning after Naraku while I'm left on the sidelines. He isn't interested Kagome."

"You know you could've said something sooner, right?" she licked her lips.

"Yeah well, we both know how I am, I had to be sure it was the real deal first."

"So you were in denial?" she quirked an eyebrow and one side of her lip in an attempt to not laugh.

"Shut it," he chuckled. "Damn, this complicates things."

"Tell me about it," she pushed him away lightly and he got the message. "So where do we go now?"

"I'm not really sure," he admitted, leaning against the bed.

"Well it's good to know I'm not the only one who feels that way."

Silence surrounded them for a moment, "This doesn't mean you'll be nicer, does it?"

"Probably not, it's still lots of fun picking on you," he smirked.

"Figures, I don't even get any perks if we started dating."

"Dating?"

"What, you wanted a friends with benefits relationship? Forget it," she glared.

"No I just…you know when you think of something in your head but you don't really…put a title or anything to it, you just sort of assume?"

"I can never assume anything with you, but I understand what you're saying."

He pursed his lips as he narrowed his gaze at her in displeasure, but continued anyway, "It was kind of like that. I didn't really put a definition of my attraction for you."

"If you ask me nicely I guess you'll find out if my answer is yes or no."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. You just kissed me, but you have to remember I've had a crush on Naraku for a long time now, I might not be ready to date someone, much less my other best friends…"

He seriously wanted to punch something for that Naraku comment, even though it was the truth and he knew it, it was still difficult for him to hear it from her own lips. "Kagome, will you—"

"Hey guys, you in there?" Naraku's voice broke the moment and Sesshomaru's face darkened as he turned to the door. Kagome put a hand on his arm to calm him.

"I accept," she smiled at him, "but for now let's keep it from Naraku until we're more comfortable with it, okay?"

Sesshomaru nodded, before leaning down and capturing a quick kiss. She blushed, but went to open the door, "Naraku, welcome back. Sesshomaru and I were working on homework, did you want to join us?"

"Sure, let me grab my bag," he agreed readily with a grin.

* * *

It had been a week since they started going out that day in her bedroom, and things had improved quite a bit at the apartment. Sesshomaru still picked on her and Naraku was still busy with whatever he was doing, but it was better. Sesshomaru often stole into her room and, while they never went farther than heavy petting and making out, it was still nice.

Jakotsu stopped by occasionally, much to both Naraku and Sesshomaru's chagrins, but there was nothing they could do about it in the end, so they just had to put up with Jakotsu making constant, blatant sexual innuendos containing one of them, or all three of them.

Kagome really did enjoy being with Sesshomaru, and her feelings for Naraku finally settled into just friends, but she could tell that he was holding back doing anything further than kissing and a few other things. She supposed that he was trying to not scare her away, thinking that perhaps she was the type that was hesitant about sex.

She wasn't hesitant about it, persay, but it would be her first time ever due to her past with men, which was nonexistent thanks to her two best friends. The only thing was that she felt awkward trying to talk about such aspects of their new relationship. Would his opinion of her lessen because she wanted to have sex with him? Would it not? Once he was done with her, did he want to continue dating her? What if she was bad? What if he dumped her afterward? The hesitancy didn't come from not wanting it, the hesitancy came from not knowing what to expect once the act was completed.

On a day when she found herself completely alone in the apartment, she needed to think, but not dwell on it, so she plugged in her good, loud speakers and blasted her favorite genre of music of all time: KPOP. Groups like BIGBANG, EXO, B2ST, VIXX, and many others helped her dance her way through the house as she sang along.

**_"Every day I shock (shock) Every night I shock (shock)  
(I'm sorry kimi wo torimodoshi taku te)  
Every day I shock (shock) Every night I shock (shock)  
(iku na yo konnanimo kurushiku te oh)_**

**_Come to me oh oh oh tonight so so crazy  
Come back back back to me (I'm waiting for you you)  
Oh oh oh tonight so so crazy (ki ga kurui sou na kono Heart break my shock)"_**

She sang along to the Japanese version. She loved both versions, Korean and Japanese, but due to her heritage and actually being able to understand and _speak_ Japanese, she tended to sing along with the Japanese version more often than not.

She was in the middle of singing "I am the Best" by 2NE1, when someone shut off the music. "Hey!" she exclaimed irritated that someone would deign to shut off her music!

"What's wrong?" Sesshomaru asked.

"What?"

"You only blast KPOP music like this when you're thinking hard about something that you can't seem to work through. Not that you don't always listen to KPOP, which I don't understand, but you only do it this way when you're upset, so spill."

"No, I'm trying to work through this on my own."

"We're dating now, I'm your boy—" he stopped, seeming to be unable to say the word, "your partner, you can tell me what's on your mind."

"Not this, not right now. Just give me a bit more time."

He sighed, "Fine, whatever, should I leave then?"

"No…I'm sorry."

Silence fell between them awkwardly until Sesshomaru "Hn'ed" and walked out of her bedroom. Sighing, she sat on her bed, trying to think of how to approach him about the problem. As it turned out, she needn't have worried, for it happened on its own the very next day.

* * *

Kagome was sitting on the edge of the fountain on the school campus, playing a game on her phone. Naraku, as usual, was gone, and Sesshomaru had been called in to work with his father that day, so she was stuck on campus for a few hours until Jakotsu could pick her up in the evening after he got off of work.

"Excuse me," a male voice said above her and she paused her game before looking up.

"Yes?"

"Hi, I'm Kouga."

"Kagome," she replied slowly.

"Would you like to go out to dinner with me sometime?"

"What?"

"Well I've seen you around but you're always surrounded by those two guys, and they sort of make sure that no one gets near you within like a ten mile radius. Since they're not here today, I thought I'd take my chance to ask you out," he admitted.

She couldn't help it, she smiled at him and laughed, "That's really cute actually. But I'm sorry to say that I'm actually dating one of those "two guys" that you talked about, so I can't go to dinner with you."

"Well, it was worth a try," he shrugged with a big grin and took a seat next to her, "Can we at least be friends?"

"I don't know if that's possible, but that would be nice," she nodded.

As far as looks went, he was actually pretty handsome – nothing compared to Sesshomaru or Naraku. But he had long brown hair that was tied back in a long ponytail - a pretty good indication that he was some sort of demon. He had brown eyes and darker toned skin, as opposed to Sesshomaru who had extremely pale skin. And Kouga's smile came easily; his aura seemed light and friendly which she liked.

"Okay, no dinner, but you look bored. Can I give you a ride somewhere? What about some coffee?"

She grinned widely at him, "You know what, I think some coffee would be great. Let me call my friend and tell him that he doesn't have to pick me up anymore."

So after calling Jakotsu and leaving a message, she followed Kouga to his car and they went to a nearby café. She got a small poppy seed muffin and a cup of Earl Grey tea.

Kagome found herself laughing at his stories and truly enjoying his company, and before she knew it, three hours had gone by. "Oh my gosh, is that really the time?" she glanced at her phone and winced at the three missed calls from Sesshomaru.

"Your boyfriend?"

"I might have forgotten to take my phone off of silent and it looks like he got off early and called Jakotsu, who told him I'd gone off with someone that he didn't know, and well…it'll be a long story. Mind giving me a lift?"

"No problem."

When they got back to the apartment, Sesshomaru was waiting, like that first time with Jakotsu, and he looked murderous. Especially when Kouga got out of the driver's seat and helped her out of the car, "Thanks for the afternoon, I had a great time. See you around?"

He looked at Sesshomaru nervously, but nodded, "I look forward to it."

She walked up to the door and Sesshomaru ushered her into the apartment, closing and locking the door behind her. "What the hell was that about?"

"What? He was nice and he treated me to tea at the café in town."

"You spent the afternoon with him? Why?"

"Look just because we're dating now doesn't mean I can't make new friends."

"Jakotsu was gay, Kouga is far from gay."

"You know who he is?"

"I know very well who he is and I won't stand for my girlfriend to be around that mangy wolf."

"Oh, he's a wolf demon, that makes sense then," she easily dismissed his previous statement and headed for the hallway.

"Do not ignore me Kagome, dammit!" he grabbed her wrist and dragged her to his room, throwing her in and locking the door, "I will not be ignored. We are dating, I have all rights to you."

"You're going to get all possessive on me now? What are you, a girl? You think I've never thought that you could be with any other female? Demon and human? You think I don't know that women throw themselves at you constantly and you could have your pick of any whore off the street that strikes your fancy? How do you think I feel?!"

"Oh so now you're jealous?"

"And you're being a possessive jerk!"

Tensions were high, and you could practically cut the tension with a knife. No one was sure who moved first, but without warning Kagome found herself pressed into his bed with his body pinning her down. Their lips met hungrily and his hands were everywhere. She got her own hands on his waist and started pulling his shirt up insistently. He got the message.

Sitting up, he pulled his shirt off and threw it to the side. She smirked as her eyes roamed his chest hungrily before her hands moved and began tracing his muscles and sinew. He smirked, eyes on fire, as he reached down and pulled her own shirt over her head and easily unclasped her bra almost in one fell swoop. It loosely covered her breasts and he pushed them up to expose her ample bosom.

She gasped as his mouth took one of her breasts into his mouth. Her hands cradled his head to her chest and she couldn't believe what noises she was making – she didn't even know she was capable of making those types of noises!

He released her breast with a _POP _and turned to the other one, meanwhile his hands kept busy unbuttoning her jeans and beginning to push them down her hips insistently.

'_This is it, we're going to have sex and I'm going to get over this stupid apprehension about it. I can do this'_ she mentally chanted as he pulled away and she wiggled out of her jeans, which were promptly thrown to the wayside with the other items of clothing.

"Not fair, these have got to go," she tugged on his jeans. Using his demon speed he was soon in only his boxers, and she was only in her lacey underwear. He smirked when he saw them.

"Were you expecting something to happen?"

"Maybe," she stuck out her tongue childishly, "Guess you'll never know."

He smirked and leaned down again to kiss her.

Soon they were divested of all of their clothes and, despite wanting to enjoy each other, could no longer wait to complete the act.

When he had thought her prepared enough, he lined himself up and pushed in slowly. "That…fucking…hurts," she ground out, trying, and failing to not cry just a little bit as he broke her hymen. She knew, well, she'd been told it got better, but that it hurt at first.

Surprisingly, he leaned down and licked up her tears tenderly. It was such a startling thing that for a moment she forgot everything else and stared at him in surprise.

Finally he was fully sheathed and she took a moment to adjust to the new intrusion in her body. "This feels really weird," she admitted.

"It'll feel better soon," he promised.

"Okay, move," she hissed.

It took a little bit to get a somewhat cohesive rhythm going between their bodies, and it still definitely hurt, but as he moved in and out of her a little bit faster, the pain receded to a dull pain. Well, until he hit _that_ spot.

"Holy frick!" she cursed.

He smirked, '_Found it.'_

He made sure to angle his thrusts so that he hit her sweet spot every single time. Heat coiled inside her body, tightening and tightening, "Sesshomaru, I can't…"

"Just let go," he whispered in her ear.

She screamed as she climaxed, white stars dancing in front of her vision. In an almost disjointed way, she realized that Sesshomaru climaxed not long after her. What made her come back to reality was that he bit the skin where her neck met her upper torso, though she couldn't exactly pinpoint where. "Ow," she vaguely heard herself mutter as he sucked. She felt his tongue caress the spot that had been hurting from his bite, and then he moved up to kiss her softly. She got a slight coppery taste in her mouth, but was too tired to take the time to recognize what it might be.

Their breathing was labored, but she had never felt more satisfied, or tired, in her entire life. "No wonder people…get addicted to sex," her chest heaved up and down as she breathed.

"Hn," he slowly pulled out of her and she mentally cringed at the feel of it. It didn't hurt but it was just…weird feeling!

He collapsed next to her on the bed, before wrapping an arm around her tiredly and pulling her into his body. "We need to clean up. I might now know a lot about sex, but we need to clean up. And in hindsight, we probably should have used a condom," she muttered tiredly.

"You are not pregnant. Demons can control impregnation in the females that they have intercourse with."

"Well that's convenient," she whispered as she yawned. Before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

Sesshomaru chuckled as he kissed the back of her neck and snuggled her some more. He had never taken himself for the snuggling type, but it wasn't so bad right after such an intimate moment. He allowed himself to go to sleep for a short while, and then he would clean them up.

* * *

When she woke up, she was clean and dressed and in her own bed. Glancing at the clock, she realized that she had slept all evening and it was around 5 AM. Maybe she had just been unusually tired.

Getting up, she found she was sore, "Well, I guess I should have been expecting that," she muttered quietly as she began to walk a little more gently than before.

Her whole body, not just her lower body, seemed sore. "Then again, they say sex is like having a heart attack, and that healthy people tend to have sex and it keeps them healthy and all that scientific crap," she said out loud once again.

In the kitchen, she got a bowl of cereal and sat on the couch. The sun was only just beginning to rise and she had pulled open the blinds to watch it.

After finishing her bowl, she put it in the sink and crept down the hall towards Sesshomaru's room. Taking a deep breath, she quietly opened it and looked in. The covers were obscuring the view, but he was definitely still in bed.

She crept forward to get a good look at him, but was startled when she caught a mop of black hair in the bed instead of silver. '_What on earth—'_

The figure moved and she froze as the sound of a woman's voice drifted to her ears. Creeping closer, Kagome stared disbelievingly at the face of a beautiful female, probably a demon. She'd never seen her before. But what was she doing in Sesshomaru's room then?

Dread pooled in Kagome's stomach…was he double-timing her with someone else? Had he been playing her the whole time? Was that all she was, just someone to have sex with? She tried to leave but she stumbled and landed hard (and painfully), on the floor. Naturally, the inhabitants of the room woke up.

The woman sat up and looked at her immediately. She had red eyes, and her features were aristocratic and defined. Black hair came to her shoulders, and it was curly, defining her pale features.

Luckily for Kagome, she wasn't naked, for that was the last thing she wanted to see, much less that she could handle. To her surprise, the woman didn't scream or shout or scowl, she…smiled?

"You must be Kagome, it's a pleasure to finally meet you," she said warmly.

'_What. The. Hell?'_

"And you are?"

"Kagura, what's going on?" Naraku's voice said from the other side as he sat up groggily.

Fact about Naraku: despite being a demon, he was always extremely difficult to wake up.

Getting back to the scene at hand…

"Kagome?" he asked, sounding shocked, horrified, and worried.

"Naraku?" she questioned right back. "What…how…but…why are you in Sesshomaru's room?"

"That's your first question?" he inquired.

"I'm getting to the others. What the hell are you doing in Sesshomaru's room? Where is Sesshomaru? Who is this woman? Why are you sleeping with her? I don't even have enough words for all the questions that are going around my head."

"Naraku, you haven't told her?"

"Told me what? Told me fucking what?!" she shouted at him.

"Kagome, this is Kagura, my girlfriend. We've been dating…for a while."

"For around nine months now," she corrected, narrowing her eyes at her boyfriend. "Clearly, neither one of us knew all the details."

"Why didn't you tell me? Was there something wrong with telling me that you were _dating_ someone? Did it ever occur to you that maybe I could have made a new _friend_?!"

"Well it's just that you…liked me and I—"

"You _knew_? You knew and you said nothing?"

"I…I wanted to tell you about Kagura, but I wasn't sure how to tell you. I knew that you had liked me for a while and I tried to ignore it and not address it. Soon a month turned into nine months and I just never got around to it and—what the hell is on your neck? Is that a mating mark?"

"A what?" she squealed, running into the bathroom.

She flicked the light on and stared at her reflection in the mirror, "I'll murder him, I swear I will," she said darkly.

There, on her neck, was a crescent shaped mating mark, the exact mark that Sesshomaru had on his forehead. It was a mark of possession.

"That's Sesshomaru's. Do you have something you want to tell me?" he was standing now instead of on the bed.

Kagura sighed, '_Well this is turning out splendidly'_ she rolled her eyes and watched the fight unfold.

"Fine, I'll tell you, Sesshomaru and I are dating, have been for a week now. We were going to tell you when we became more comfortable with our relationship, and obviously this is a sign of the fucking fast pace we've suddenly jumped to, but it wasn't because I was ashamed of my feelings for you, it was simply because I wanted to be more confident in his affection for me and vice versa before we made it anything official to our friends."

"And you think that's any real excuse?"

"Well it's better than yours you jackass. Why couldn't you just tell me that you knew about my feelings and tell me that you weren't interested? Was I mentally dysfunctional? What? Seriously, _why?_"

"Because I'm a coward, okay? I'm not the kind of demon who faces his problems, I tend to run away. Sesshomaru is the confrontational one, not me. He told me several times to tell you and I never could, and I made him swear that he didn't say anything to you either."

"Well no wonder he was so fucking frustrated with the both of us. With me because I liked you, and with you because he knew that you knew that I liked you and that you were too cowardly to say anything about it, so I suffered more than anyone!"

"Okay you two, shut up!" Kagura finally stood up.

"I quite agree, this is getting out of hand," Sesshomaru's voice joined hers from the doorway.

"You, you pompous jerk, how dare you mark me when I didn't even know!"

"Well, I guess we have some things to discuss, don't we?"

"And you, don't think you're off the hook either!" she turned back to Naraku.

"Don't worry Kagome, I'll make sure he's properly chastised," Kagura reassured and Naraku nervously shifted.

Sesshomaru walked over and picked up Kagome in his arms, leaving the room. "Why are you they in your room?"

"Naraku is redecorating and Kagura came over, so I told them they could use my bed. I went to my family's house and slept there after cleaning up yesterday and putting you in bed. I just got back so I could check on you and see how you were doing."

"Well…I'm a bit tender," she blushed.

"I should expect so," he chuckled as they walked into her bedroom and he set her on the bed. "Now, calm down so you can get dressed and we can go to breakfast."

"Really?" her eyes got big. She _loved_ breakfast; it was her favorite meal of any day.

"Really."

"Yes!" she cheered happily.

* * *

It took a few days for things to settle down between Kagome and Naraku, but when they finally did, she was more happy than she could remember being. Kagura was actually a pretty awesome girl to be around, _and_ since she was already with Naraku, they could be good friends without having to worry about all the obsessing and fangirling that would normally go on.

On top of that, after Sesshomaru warned Kouga over and over again about getting close to Kagome, he grudgingly (with some lectures from Kagura and Jakotsu) allowed their friendship to continue…but only supervised.

She thought it was both annoying and cute when he was so protective of her that way. Naraku shared his sentiment about Kouga however, so he was of no help. But in the end, everything seemed to work out. Well, except for one thing…

"So, we have the room set up for you to move back in," her mother smiled and Carl was off to the side.

"Move back in?" Kagome looked at her mother. She had sort of forgotten that living with Sesshomaru and Naraku was only temporary and not permanent. She was already used to living that lifestyle, as she'd lived that way for two and a half months already.

"Of course. We can do it whenever you've got your stuff packed."

"But…I…" she didn't know what to say. She knew that her mother expected her to move right back in like nothing had ever happened, but how could she do that when so much _had_ happened in such a short amount of time? She had gotten several new friends, renewed her friendship with Naraku, and gotten Sesshomaru as her boyfriend. It felt like a lifetime, and not just two months, that had passed.

"Actually Mrs. Higurashi," Sesshomaru suddenly walked in and straight for Kagome. He took her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist protectively, "we wanted your blessing on her moving in with us permanently."

Her mother's eyes got big as she saw Sesshomaru's arm around her daughter's waist, and their hands clasped affectionately on the side. "Are you two…together?"

"Officially, yes," Kagome replied.

"Well…I suppose…but should you two be living together if you're dating?"

"You're seriously asking that question when you live with Carl and you're not married and you _clearly_ have had sex before?" Kagome gaped in disbelief at her mother's double standard.

"It's different, you're so young, and I've been married before."

"You know what, I don't care, I'm staying with Sesshomaru. Come on," she went to pull away but Sesshomaru did not budge.

"I realize that this is a lot to take in Mrs. Higurashi, but I promise that I'll take good care of your daughter. I've been doing it for years, and I will continue to do it."

"Sesshomaru," Kagome blushed, "What are you saying?"

"You promise?" her mother ignored her. To her annoyance, so did Sesshomaru.

"I give you my solemn vow."

"…alright. I'll hold you to it Sesshomaru, don't think I won't."

He nodded before finally allowing Kagome to pull him out of the house. "What was that about anyway?"

"You'll understand one day."

"I want to understand now," she petulantly fought back.

"Maybe when you stop acting like a five-year-old, I'll tell you."

"Hmph," she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away.

He chuckled and ruffled her hair affectionately, "I promise, you'll understand one day."

"Sesshomaru?"

"Yes?"

"…Wo Ai Ni."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing, it's just some Chinese."

"What does it mean?"

She was silent on the matter, though he persisted the entire way back to the apartment. When it was clear that she would not tell him, he looked it up on google while she watched TV.

**Urban Dictionary: wo ai ni**

** . ?term... **

**Urban Dictionary**

**I LOVE YOU in (mandarin) Chinese. wo is I, ai is LOVE, ni is YOU. Wo ai ni. = I love you. Ta shi wo ai ren. = She/He's my wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend.**

He stared at it for a moment, before standing up and moving into the living room. He loomed over the back of the couch, before leaning down to kiss just behind her ear, "Wo ai ni, huh?"

"Figure it out?" she asked smugly.

"I love you too."

He could feel her blush and he chuckled, "But don't expect me to say it often, if at all."

She rolled her eyes, same old Sesshomaru.

"Don't worry, I won't," she laughed.


End file.
